FlyingAce

I have been playing for 4 years, 3 with a GHIN. I play 5 times a week between April-November and I have 2 aces, 2 eagles, enough birdies and have broken 80. I still consider myself a beginner. I also like to be the first one to tee off at the first tee when others are still busy getting their gloves on, finding the ugliest ball (in case they lose it), stretching...I don’t feel all eyes on me - no pressure, no expectations.

A 30-min practice session at Golftec cost $15 with the use of their TrackMan.

Costco Kirkland brand golf balls. I don’t play it but a few people I know do and they swear it is the closest thing to ProV1 without breaking the bank. Costco limits 2 boxes per membership.

2019 is my 4th season playing golf. My achievements so far: Hole in one #1: Sept 2017 Hole in one #2: June 2018 The 2 hole in ones = 2 Eagles Broke 90: 2017 Broke 80: once in 2018 with a 76 (14 pars hole 1-14, then got too excited and bogeyed the last 4 holes). Damn it...

Callaway for everything + Scotty Cameron putter.

I was away to ski since Thanksgiving of last year and have not touched a golf club until last weekend when I played my first round of the year. It was not too bad considering how much time I took off. Did not lose much of my swing, distance, or putting accuracy (surprisingly), but definitely lost touch in my chipping. I had alot of 1 chip 1 putt at the end of last season and I have completely forgotten how to do that...

Ricola cough drops. They keep me focused and calm. I do the same for when I am skiing. Not exactly sure how it started but it became a habit.

My retirement has to include skiing during the winter months. Golf was not in my life until a few years ago. My husband and I visit Hawaii every year and we'd stay in resorts with beautiful golf courses. We thought it'd be nice to learn the game and someday, maybe we can play while on vacation. So, I found some cheap lessons from Groupon and started my journey. Fast forward to now. I am hooked and I see myself playing golf in retirement. I play 5 days a week between April-November, and move to the mountains to ski 5 days a week between December-March. Retirement is quite a few years away for my husband. We have no kids or family obligations. I think I am retired, but my husband prefers that I tell people I am "willfully unemployed" until he retires too. Anyway, we were just talking about retirement and here's our plan: We will have a home base in the West with nice weather. During the winter months, we'd get a rental for 4 months to ski, then return to our base for golf the rest of the year. We can either stay in NM or we can move back to CA. We never sold our CA home when we left for MI/NM and rented it out all these years. It is almost paid off so we can always fall back in that home for retirement. The weather is nice in NM but the issue is how difficult it is to travel - there are no direct flights to anywhere we want to go. We have to layover somewhere and it cost us both time and money and we don't want to keep doing that. We also tried out this renting-for-the-winter idea the last 3 seasons. We found a furnished rental and I stayed there almost full time to ski. It worked out pretty well so I think we will continue to do that in the foreseeable future. We originally wanted to buy a ski cabin, but we'd only use it for 4 months out of the year and it's a pain to deal with renters and maintain the place, so we axed that idea. And by renting, we are not limited to one ski resort. We can move around and try different places every year. So we thought we got it all planned out, but we recently went to Scottsdale AZ and FELL IN LOVE with it. So, all of a sudden, we have a new option. I started looking at homes in the area and boy, are they expensive! Not only are homes in Scottsdale expensive, but so is golf! What I then realized is besides deciding on where to live, we have to plan for where to golf too! And include a healthy budget for it. Now in NM, golf is relatively inexpensive. Our golf club membership only cost $350/mth and it will go up to $600/mth once we hit 46, and that's for unlimited golf. While looking in AZ, there are definitely no "unlimited" golf clubs that's close to what we are paying now, and pay per play is not really an option when we plan to play at least 4 times a week. So now, we are looking into homes in golf communities that does not cost a kidney to join and there aren't that many. We will be heading to Scottsdale next month to scout out communities/golf clubs so we can have a better idea of where we can afford to live and play golf regularly. In the end, our plan is to figure out a location for retirement and buy a house now, so by the time we retire, the house will be paid off already.

I currently live in NM too! My husband and I moved from Michigan 7 years ago (originally from CA) and I will NEVER EVER move back to Michigan, even if it's the only place on earth that has golf. And I am a winter person - I ski 4 months out of the year. I love snow and cold weather, but not the Michigan kind. All I could remember about Michigan summer is how humid it is. The thunderstorms, hail, rain, etc. That's why it's so green there. Everything I kept in the basement storage had mold and my joint pain were worse when I lived in Michigan v. now in NM. Fall is nice, but I can live without it... DO NOT MOVE TO MICHIGAN!

No way! That is crazy! Did he say what the $2300 includes? I am pretty sure I paid no more than $800 for 15x30-min sessions with a swing analysis. When I put in my request for info online, a golftec rep called me back but he wasn’t specific to my location and gave me a random number. I ended up going in to the actual golftec location and got the rates in person. Perhaps you can try that? There was a $2000+ package but it was for 1 lesson/week for 10 months.

When I signed up for lessons with Golftec last year, I paid $100 for the initial swing analysis (I think it was reg. $120). Then I bought a 10 or 15 lesson package and got 20% off regular rate. The package came with a swing analysis so they reimbursed me for what I had already paid. I also referred a friend to them and both my friend and I received a $100 credit towards lessons. They are currently running a spring promotion with 20% off during the month of March. Lessons are expensive and the 30 minutes go by very fast, but all I need is one pointer/tip each time. My location also does bunkers and putting lessons at a local course. So far the lessons I have taken really helped me, so they are worth it to me. Oh, they used to have swing analysis deals on Groupon/Living Social too!

I think lessons can help fix any bad habits that you have developed. Your swing is about muscle memory so the longer you play/wait, the more difficult it is to fix or change things. There is no perfect swing in golf but there are basics that can help you make smaller errors. It helps to learn those early on than to try and change what you are already used to. It also helps to have someone watch to see if you are doing what you think you doing and give you feedback. You will have to find an instructor with a teaching style that works for you. Just because someone knows how to play golf does not mean they know how to teach, so I’d be careful with getting advice from random people. My first instructor wanted me to have a specific swing which I find impossible. His expectations frustrated both of us so I moved on to someone else. 2nd instructor wanted me to have fun. He got me hooked on golf before moving on to the technical stuff. I’d take weekly lessons from him at the beginning, and practice daily. Once I started playing decently, I’d take a lesson every month just to make sure I did not change things for the worse unknowingly. The 3rd instructor was from my home club (I play there every day) and I took lessons from him for course management and short game. That really helped me alot and got me to the mid 80s. I am now taking lessons at Golftec and I find the swing analysis very helpful to fine tune my golf game. I broke 80 after a few months of lesson there. I practice and play alot so I want to catch any bad habits before they get out of control.

The first time I ever touched a golf club was in 2013 when I was 39. Bought a Groupon for some lessons at a local public course. I think it was $100 for 4 lessons. Ended up taking 8 lessons but made no progress at all. Was just going to give up but decided to try another instructor at a resort course. Took 10-15 lessons (which came with unlimited use of their practice facilities) and I practiced every single day for that season (2014). Took winter off to ski. Returned to the range in Spring 2015 and my instructor told me I had to start playing real golf and not spend all my time at the range. So I started playing a round here and there but never kept scores. Took the winter off to ski again and returned in 2016 to start playing real golf with a GHIN. I’d practice at the range 2-3 times a week and play every Saturday and Sunday. Took about 2 months to break 100, but was stuck in the mid to high 90s to end the year. The 2017 season was when everything changed. I started the season with a few more lessons from one extra instructor and started seeing improvements right away which brought me down to low 90s. I decided to join a country club in August of 2017 so I can play unlimited golf and in that month alone, I played 27 rounds! And that’s when I broke 90 and had my first hole in one in September’17. I ended that season in the mid 80s and played a total of 120 rounds. Again took winter off to ski. The 2018 season started in the mid 80s. I found a new instructor at my club to teach me course management and short game, and that helped me drop to the low 80s. I spent less time at the range but I played golf at least 5 days a week. I got my 2nd hole in one in June’18 and shortly after that, I broke 80. I also started taking weekly lessons at golftec. My lowest score of the year was 76 and I ended the season with a 9.8hcp. I played 196 rounds of golf in 2018. Took winter off again. My ski season just ended so it’s time to get back to golf. My goals for this year are: spend more time to work on my short game, break 80 consistently, maintain a single handicap, shoot par once, and I wouldn’t mind another ace! But no plans to break 70 yet...